Since time immemorial, music has been recognized as being somehow soothing to the spirit as well as pleasing to the ear. Many people believe they work or study better within a musical environment, and some types of music are considered relaxing. Many recent developments in sound generation and reproduction equipment have accentuated and facilitated music appreciation. Music encourages such bodily activity as dancing and is now a common accompaniment to individual or group exercise programs.
Bodily well-being is enhanced by voluntary exercise, but if such exercise is impracticable or is not well distributed throughout the body or is carried to excess a form of passive exercise or "massage" often proves beneficial. Similarities between repetitive exercise and massaging movements, on the one hand, and various mechanical actions, on the other hand, have led to numerous mechanized beds, chairs, and tables. Music also has its repetitive aspect, so it is not surprising that music is common in active and passive exercise activity.
Indeed, efforts have been made to apply musical or other sonic vibrations more broadly to the body than merely to the ears. Thus, Nohmura in U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,152 and 4,055,170 and Martimaas in U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,566 disclose sitting or reclining means with loudspeakers directed toward the back of the person thereon, but their systems are too loosely coupled to the supported person to be conducive to the best effects.
Other inventors have employed liquids for transmitting various vibrations to the body, such systems are too tightly coupled to be conducive to relaxation. The same is true of systems with body support affixed rigidly to the frame of the apparatus, as in Leitner U.S. Ser. No. 845,875 filed on 27 Oct. 1973 referred to in German publication 2,846,859 on 10 May 1977 claiming priority of that U.S. patent application.
My somatic musical exposure system rexedies the failings of the prior art and provides new levels of entertainment and passive exercise with many benefits for those exposed thereto.